"Those with talent who naturalise today can easily leave the country of adoption for greener pasture tomorrow; it is what these developed countries do to keep them there that really matters.

Between the hard-working stateless man who has spent much of his life toiling on Malaysian soil and the corrupt politician who continues to squander our national wealth, it does not take a genius to distinguish who is the real patriot." By Josh Hong in Malaysiakini

VISITORS

Buddhist mobs carrying swords and knives swarmed Zaw Lay Khar’s village again and again, clashing with Muslims and burning their homes. When she saw about 40 attackers approaching her home, she fled with her daughter but had to leave behind her 94-year-old mother.

“They set the house on fire. There was nothing we could do but run. We didn’t have time to help her,” she said Thursday near her charred home, in the village of Thabyuchaing in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The attack had been two days earlier, but smoke still rose from the ruined buildings.

Rakhine was home to much of the sectarian violence that has killed hundreds of people since June 2012. Violence that began Sunday in Rakhine’s Thandwe township left five people dead, all of them Muslims, and at least 100 homes burned to the ground in three villages there, according to police Sgt. Aung Naing Win. He said at least one person was missing.